3 South Korean firms found to have illegally imported North Korean coal and pig iron by forging documentation
Updated: 2018-08-10 14:23:08 KST

The government has released the results of a probe into what was suspected to be illegal imports of coal from North Korea.
It found that, in fact, 7 of the 9 cases did break the law.
For more, we go to our foreign ministry correspondent Lee Ji-won who's on the phone.
Ji-won, tell us more about these findings.

Devin, South Korea's Customs Service revealed at a briefing just a few hours ago, that North Korean coal and pig iron have been in fact illegally brought into the country using forged documentation.
Three South Korean firms were found to have transshiped the North Korean resources at a Russian port and disguise them as Russian goods to illegally bring them into South Korea.
In the course of 7 instances between April and October last year, they brought in a total of 35-thousand tons of North Korean coal and pig iron, worth some 6.6 billion won, or about 5.8 million U.S. dollars.
This is a clear violation of UN Security Council resolution 23-71 which stipulates that North Korea shall not supply, sell or transfer directly or indirectly coal, iron and iron ore, and that all UN member states shall prohibit the procurement of such material from the North.
The Korea Customs Service said it would press charges against the firms involved.
That's it from me for now but I will bring you more detail on this later.